Americas

Obama and his western allies, such as Cameron in Britain, argued that a
policy of air strikes alone would be sufficient to defeat the advances
made by ’Islamic state’ forces in Iraq and Syria. Now with the possible
defeat of Kurdish forces fighting IS for control of Kobane city, this
policy lies in tatters. IS forces have advanced into the city and, at
the time of writing, seem to be on the verge of scoring another victory.
Amidst reports of horrific scenes of brutal slaughter in the city by the
crazed forces of the reactionary IS, US air strikes on IS forces have
had little effect and failed to halt the advance. The Kurdish population
in Kobani have waged a courageous and desperate fight to defeat IS or to
face almost certain slaughter.

At the same time, the President Obama and Prime Minister David Cameron’s
policy of air strikes is not only failing in Syria and Kobani.
Developments in Iraq, especially in the western province of Anbar, have
seen major gains by IS forces. Anbar province, which accounts for nearly
25% of Iraq’s territory, all of the major towns and cities, with the
exception of Haditha and two military bases near Hit and Fallujah, have
fallen to IS. Once again, the Iraqi army was left in disarray and
offered little effective resistance. In yet another addition to
seemingly endless humanitarian catastrophes, an estimated 750,000 people
have already fled the province.

Anbar

It is now possible that IS forces may move on to launch a further
offensive with the objective of taking the Sunni western part of
Baghdad. Anbar province was at the centre of the Sunni uprising against
the US occupation in 2003. The key to current victories of the IS forces
lies not only in the large amounts of heavy weaponry and arms they
managed to capture from the disintegrating Iraqi army. The rapid
advances IS made over vast areas of Iraq and Syria is also due to the
fact that the IS uprising has become a generalised Sunni uprising.

The brutal response by Shia militias, who have made some advances north
and north east of Baghdad, has not distinguished between IS fighters and
ordinary Sunni people. This has helped to drive more of the Sunni
population under the umbrella of the IS, as many do not see any other
force to ‘defend’ them. Shia militias in Baghdad speak openly of driving
out the Sunnis from mixed areas of the city, such as Diyala. The IS
forces have been able to base themselves on the oppression dealt out
against the Sunni population under the western-installed Iraqi
government of Maliki following the US-led occupation in 2003.

The crisis is likely to intensify following these developments in Iraq
and the possible fall of Kobani to IS forces. The Turkish regime of
Prime Minister Erdogan has consciously held back from intervention
against IS forces advancing on Kobani, fearful of the effects of a
victory by the Kurdish forces in Kobani on the 15 million-strong Kurdish
population inside Turkey itself. Most of the fighting in Kobani is being
led by the People’s Protection Units (YPG) – the Syrian branch of the
Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) in Turkey. The Erdogan regime would be
more comfortable with an IS victory over the PYD rather than vice versa,
as indicated by the recent agreement reached that led to the release of
Turkish hostages held by IS.

No trust in regional leaders or imperialism

There can be no trust in any of the regional leaders or western
imperialism to resolve this crisis in the interests of all the peoples
of the region. Western imperialist intervention is only serving to
worsen the catastrophe. Much of the origins of the current slaughter can
be found in the legacy of western imperialist interventions into the
entire region. No trust can be placed in the Sunni or Shia elite and
rulers of the countries of the region, which are being drawn into the
conflict and seeking to use it to gain for themselves. Turkey is looking
to strengthen its expansion into Syria and seeking to establish new mini
form of the Ottoman Empire.

Obama has spoken of assembling a coalition of Sunni powers, such as
Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates to oppose IS. However,
while the corrupt oppressive ruling dynasties of these countries may not
be fully in support of IS’s actions, and some of these regimes have been
actively involved in backing IS, they all have their own regional
interests and a different agenda to Obama. Defeating IS is not the main
priority for them. Also, in the short term, they can defend their own
interests by the fact that IS can cause more problems for regional Shia
regimes.

United movement of masses needed

To combat the horrors of IS and all other reactionary sectarian forces
in the region, it is necessary to build a united movement of Sunni and
Shia Arab masses together with the Kurdish, Turkish and all other
peoples. To combat the reactionary threat of an IS slaughter in Kobani
and elsewhere in Syria and Iraq, democratic committees need to be built
to form mass militias. A struggle to lift the arms embargo in Turkey, to
allow for an arming of such militias, is necessary. In Turkey,
committees of Turkish and Kurdish workers need to be formed and to come
together in a united way. The building of non-sectarian committees of
the Sunni and Shia masses in Iraq, together with the Kurdish people in
Iraq, in opposition to sectarian forces, on all sides, is the way
forward. Such committees could form the basis of a government of the
workers, peasants and all those exploited by capitalism and imperialism.
A voluntary and equal socialist federation of states would guarantee the
democratic, national and ethnic rights of all peoples of the region.